I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 331 The Xianbei are coming
Xun You had a deep feeling about what he saw and heard on this trip.

When he reported to Yuan Shu, he described in great detail what he had seen and heard.

"What I saw in the area was all like this: agricultural production and military tactics practice. The weapons were very simple, but the people were very fierce and tall. Although the county was poor and dilapidated, everyone was determined to die."

Moreover, the locals harbor deep hatred for the Xianbei people. Every household has relatives or friends who have been killed by the Xianbei. According to the locals, when winter turns to spring, every household wears mourning clothes and cries that shake the heavens. From the county magistrate to the common people, no one is spared from weeping.

When Magistrate Xia Wei of Qiangyin County learned of my purpose, he grasped my hand, his eyes filled with tears, and asked the magistrate if he could send a large army to defend the area. If the army could not come, he asked if he could send some weapons, equipment, arrows, and food. Otherwise, he really did not know when Qiangyin County would be completely destroyed.

He also took me to a courtyard. When I went inside, I saw that it was full of people who were missing limbs. There were old people, adults, and even children. They were all people who had their limbs damaged during the Xianbei invasion but had survived by chance. Although they were alive, it was no different from being dead.

Because of his physical disability, he was unable to work and could only eat one meal every two days to save food. Moreover, he was mostly unable to move and could only stay in the courtyard. If the county town was lost, he would surely die. County Magistrate Xia asked me how to deal with such a person if there were such a person in the Central Plains.

I asked him why he didn't report these matters to the prefectural government or the imperial court. He said he reported to the prefectural government every three months, but almost all his reports went unanswered; he received very little in return, and his official petitions to the imperial court received no response whatsoever. He felt powerless to do anything about it.

As he spoke, Xun You burst into tears and could no longer continue.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu sighed deeply.

"Luoyang is a place of extravagance and debauchery, where do they remember the people on the frontier suffering in dire straits? If the frontier is like this, it's no wonder that the Xianbei invade the south year after year, and the frontier is left undefended. The court has been raising scholars and soldiers for many years, but this is the result they have achieved?"

The situation in Yanmen County is highly representative.

Besides Yanmen County, Yuan Shu learned that the situation in Wuyuan County, Yunzhong County, Shuofang County, and many other places was similar, with little difference. They were almost all short of food and clothing, lacked defensive supplies and military pay, and had a severe shortage of soldiers. Many border guards were even in their forties or fifties and still could not go home.

It's no wonder that the border areas were like sieves, allowing the Xianbei people to come and go at will.

Yuan Shu was very angry, but he also knew that Rome wasn't built in a day, and that the reorganization of the border defenses should be carried out gradually. What needed to be done at present was to consolidate the defenses as soon as possible.

Based on past experience, the Xianbei people had ravaged Yanmen County almost every time they marched south over the past ten years. So Yuan Shu immediately ordered Lian Da, who was stationed in Yanmen County, to send people to Qiangyin County to make preliminary preparations, whether it was to repair defensive facilities or to strengthen the city's defenses.

In short, Yuan Shu wanted to turn Qiangyin County into a nail, a nail firmly driven into the northern part of Yanmen County.

If the Xianbei people were to launch a large-scale southward invasion and pass through Qiangyin County, then Qiangyin County must be defended to the end and must not be lost, so as to serve as the starting point for a later counterattack.

Therefore, Yuan Shu quickly ordered the logistics department to immediately transport a large amount of supplies, including food, weapons, and engineering personnel, to Qiangyin County, so that they could strengthen the defenses of Qiangyin County in the shortest possible time and strive to build a war fortress.

In addition, Yuan Shu ordered Xia Yu, the prefect of Yanmen Commandery, to quickly reorganize the commandery troops that originally belonged to Yanmen Commandery, allowing the number to reach three thousand.

He then issued orders to Cheng Zun, the prefect of Shuofang Commandery; Dong Yuan, the prefect of Yunzhong Commandery; Sun Pu, the prefect of Wuyuan Commandery; and Wang Zhi, the prefect of Dingxiang Commandery, instructing them to reorganize the commandery troops and ensure that the number of troops reaches three thousand. If there is a shortage of soldiers' pay or military rations, they should report to Yuan Shu, who will make immediate arrangements.

Before they could even report it, Yuan Shuxian arranged for a batch of grain to be transported to these five counties, so that at least the soldiers in these five counties could have a full meal and not be so hungry in the dead of winter that they couldn't even lift their weapons.

How can we then retaliate against the Xianbei?

As for Yuan Shu, he also ordered the reconstruction of the military passage from Jinyang County to the five northern prefectures and the supply depots along the way. Food was to be stored and personnel were to be arranged to manage the area so that Yuan Shu's army could provide support as quickly as possible in case of emergency or danger.

However, due to the urgency of the situation, Yuan Shu only had time to transport a batch of grain to the five northern counties.

On November 23, just seven days after Lian Da led the vanguard of the 3,000-strong Tianxiong Army to Qiangyin County, and the day after the first batch of military supplies arranged by Yuan Shu arrived in Qiangyin County, the scouts who went to the grasslands to gather information brought news.

The Xianbei are coming.

They discovered that various Xianbei tribes were beginning to gather in a certain place on the grasslands, and based on this, they judged that a new round of southward raids was about to begin.

When the news reached Qiangyin County, Lian Da immediately sent scouts south to report to Yuan Shuzhi. He then led three thousand Tianxiong soldiers and one thousand garrison soldiers and able-bodied men from Qiangyin County to repair the low and dilapidated city walls of Qiangyin County, and dug pits and set up barricades around the area.

Because it was cold in winter and the rivers were frozen, there was no point in building a moat at this time. So Lian Da had no choice but to follow the custom of the Yixin Society and settle all the Han people outside the county town inside the county town, and then destroy the area outside the county town.

Every three steps there's a barricade, every five steps a pitfall, and inside the pitfalls are things like splinters, guaranteed to send you and your horse soaring to heaven with one step.

As for the most important part of the city defense itself, since the original city wall of Qiangyin County was only a little over three meters high and was an earthen wall with low strength, Lian Da immediately mobilized all available manpower to work together to speed up the operation and raise the city wall.

In the eyes of Xia Wei, the county magistrate of Qiangyin County, Lian Da's series of actions had a rather magical realism feel to them.

He hadn't expected that this subordinate general under Yuan Shu was actually working diligently to defend Qiangyin County.

They not only brought a large amount of supplies and defensive troops, but also brought all the residents of Qiangyin County that they could find into the city.

If there weren't enough houses in the city, military tents were used as temporary emergency shelters. If there wasn't enough open space, scaffolding was erected, and the scaffolding was raised several stories high, creating a lot of extra space. If there was nowhere to store grain, pits were dug for storage.

Xia Wei asked Lian Da if he was being too anxious, and whether having so many people would overwhelm the small and dilapidated county town. Instead, he was reprimanded by Lian Da.

"As the county magistrate, are you going to stand by and watch the people under your jurisdiction be killed without doing anything? They are all subjects of the Han Dynasty. How can we remain indifferent? Your mission is to do your utmost to ensure that everyone can live!" These words stunned Xia Wei. He never expected that such words and such awareness could come from the mouth of a military officer.

Moreover, he not only talked about it, but he was also doing it. He sent out soldiers and brought all the county residents outside the city into the city without any explanation, and moved all their supplies and belongings into the city. Thousands of people worked hard and completed the scorched earth policy in just two days.

Throughout the entire process, the army was orderly, efficient, and swift, without any chaos, disturbance to the people, or even reports of their belongings being stolen by these soldiers, nor of being bullied.

Even when these soldiers went out on missions, they did not carry any weapons. Only the officers carried swords, while the soldiers went out empty-handed, in order to show their determination and sincerity in not harming the people of the county.

This army was hardly like an army; it was more like a group of saints. Their actions were beyond the comprehension of Xia Wei and the people of Qiangyin County—the kind of things they couldn't even dream of.

They seem to genuinely want to protect Qiangyin County, and genuinely want to prevent all the county's residents from being killed.

However, this feeling of being protected is really too unfamiliar to everyone.

Regardless of the consequences, under his orders, the Tianxiong Army soldiers and a thousand local armed forces from Qiangyin County all went into battle and carried out a large-scale militarized reconstruction of the city wall.

All sorts of weapons and equipment were sent to the city walls, and all sorts of supplies were piled up on the walls. Soldiers were running up and down busily, everyone had something to do, and no one was idle.

The only time I can stop is when I'm eating.

According to the regulations of the Tianxiong Army, all front-line combat personnel are entitled to three meals a day. However, considering that transporting food would be very difficult once the Xianbei people move south, in order to save some food for the front-line soldiers, the remaining civilians are still given two meals a day.

In addition, all officials who had not fought on the front lines were only allowed to eat two meals a day, and were not allowed to eat more. This point was particularly emphasized by Lian Da, who then personally sent people to control it.

That being said, everyone ate just as much as they should, and some even ate more than they should.

When Xia Wei led his men on patrol, he noticed that everyone's rice bowls contained more grain and were piled higher, along with some non-staple foods that were not commonly seen in the past.

When asked how the common people were eating, they all had satisfied and happy smiles on their faces. They said they had never eaten so much grain and such salty pickled vegetables before. They were so happy to be able to eat so much and be so full in one meal.

If this was the case for ordinary people, it was also true for soldiers. Soldiers received a much higher ration of food than ordinary people. Their bowls were filled with more and fuller grains, and they also had a large pot of stew as a side dish, making their meals very delicious.

Thanks to the Tianxiong Army, the local armed personnel in Qiangyin County also got the same food. From the first day, they were "captured" by the food. After eating a meal, they wished they could hug Lian Da's legs and call him godfather. They all obediently did whatever they were told.

At the same time, all supplies and essential food rations in the county were put under unified management, with each person receiving a fixed amount of food at fixed times each day, so that the logistics personnel of the Tianxiong Army could calculate how long they could last.

Once inside the city, apart from the sick and disabled, there were no freeloaders. Following the custom of the Yixin Society, Lian Da proposed that everyone who entered the city should contribute to its defense.

Young men who did not join the army were to join the reserve force, where they would not only be responsible for transporting supplies but also for emergency military training.

Young boys and the elderly and frail also had to work together to move supplies.

The Zhuang women were responsible for preparing and transporting meals for the soldiers guarding the city.

Older and younger women worked together to wash and mend the soldiers' clothes.

Everyone should do their best and participate as much as possible, because we are all in the same boat. No matter what happened in the past, we can only live and die together now.

If we can protect the city, everyone can survive.

If we can't hold the city, we'll all die.

Xia Wei noticed that in addition to handling specific tasks, Lian Da would also arrange a team of people to patrol the civilian area every day, tirelessly and patiently spreading this message to them.

Interestingly, this kind of promotion seems to be quite effective.

Because the efficiency of ordinary people seemed to have increased with the daily promotion, and they were more and more enthusiastic about their work.

The whole nation is a soldier.

Xia Wei had heard of this saying.

However, he had never personally witnessed an entire county being mobilized and organized to handle matters in such an orderly and efficient manner.

General Lian Da and his officers seemed to know exactly what to do and what not to do. This army seemed not only capable of fighting but also of governing the people, and their actions were even more skillful than those of the seasoned officials in his county government.

Isn't this an army?
Xia Wei was both surprised and puzzled.

(End of this chapter)